Political tidbits from September 21

This is an item to which my initial reaction was, “So what?” The Romney campaign gave bonuses to several of its top staffers following the Republican Convention. Setting aside the fact that a campaign is a private entity and he can do whatever he wants, and that the Convention has been widely viewed as a colossal missed opportunity, what was he thinking? He is starting to experience difficulties raising money, with many donors questioning whether this campaign is going anywhere. If he were perceived to be on a winning track, this would be a big “So what?” story. It’s also not a significant amount of money for a campaign that may spend close to a billion dollars this year. But how does that help either your message or your fund raising?

Then there is his latest foray into “environmental” issues in a week where he was going to lay out many more specifics in the event he is the next President. According to today’s New York Times, a reporter asked if he would be campaigning more extensively – presumably because of complaints from supporters that he wasn’t doing enough of it. The candidate responded: “’Ha, ha. We’re in the stretch, aren’t we?” Mr. Romney said before promptly changing the subject and pointing to the sky. “Look at those clouds. It’s beautiful. Look at those things.’” There was no mention of whether they were as wonderful as the trees in Michigan “that are just the right height,” as he extolled before that state’s primary.